Many homeowners and apartment renters have experienced the nightmare of a floor drain backing up and conducting water and/or sewage into their property. Such drain back up can be caused by flood conditions in the area or the like. Whatever the cause, the resulting mess is disastrous and could present a health hazard.
While there are many designs for occluding large mains, see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,760,750 and 1,814,677, and for stopping a water pipe to permit a cleaning process to be conducted, see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,000,636 and 2,309,429, such devices are inserted manually when it is desired to occlude the main or drain.
Thus, while such devices are effective when used, they have a serious shortcoming with regard to the above-mentioned flooding problem. This shortcoming revolves around the need for the user to control the situation. That is, the user must be there to operate the device. Many flood situations caused by a drain backing up occur when the homeowner is not present, and progress to a disastrous degree before that homeowner ever becomes aware of the situation.
If the homeowner is not present at the beginning of the situation, the effectiveness of the above-mentioned type of stoppers is extremely limited since a great deal of damage may have already occurred before these stoppers are ever even used.
Accordingly, there is a need for a flood stopper type of drain plug that can automatically stop a drain from conducting water or other fluid back into a room or area which is supposed to be cleared by such drain.